README.md

Clipster - Linux Cloud Server

Clipster is a multi platform cloud clipboard:
Copy a text on your smartphone and paste it on your desktop, or vice versa.
Easy, secure, open source.
Supports Android, Linux, MacOS, Windows and all browsers.

This package allows you to set up your own Linux server including a web front-end.
For the mobile client see Clipster-Android.
For a client for Linux, Windows and MacOS check Clipster-Desktop.

Automatic Setup

First, clone the repo and enter the directory:

git clone https://github.com/mc51/Clipster-Server.git && cd Clipster-Server

Then, just run the install script:

sh install.sh

The install script takes care of everything. Per default, the server accepts connections at https://domain.tld:9999. There, it also serves the front end.

Manual Setup

If you need to, you can install manually.

First, install the python package, which will also install the requirements:

pip install --user .

Then, set a secret key for the Django installation:

sed -i "s/^SECRET_KEY = None$/SECRET_KEY='YourSuperSecretAndLongKey'/" server/settings.py

Next, prepare Django (this creates the database tables)

python manage.py makemigrations
python manage.py migrate
python manage.py collectstatic

Gunicorn is the WSGCI server that will serve our App. It deals with requests to clipster.
To configure it, create a file guni_config.py with this content:

import sys

BASE_DIR = <CLIPSTER_SERVER_DIR>
sys.path.append(BASE_DIR)

bind = '0.0.0.0:9999'
backlog = 20

import multiprocessing
workers = 1
worker_class = 'sync'
worker_connections = 10
timeout = 300
keepalive = 2

certfile = <CERTFILE>
keyfile = <KEYFILE>
ssl_version = 'TLS'

spew = False
loglevel = 'error'
accesslog = '/tmp/clipster_access_log'
errorlog = '/tmp/clipster_error_log'

def post_fork(server, worker):
    server.log.info('Worker spawned (pid: %s)', worker.pid)

def pre_fork(server, worker):
    pass

def pre_exec(server):
    server.log.info('Forked child, re-executing.')

def when_ready(server):
    server.log.info('Server is ready. Spawning workers')

def worker_int(worker):
    worker.log.info('worker received INT or QUIT signal')

    ## get traceback info
    import threading, sys, traceback
    id2name = dict([(th.ident, th.name) for th in threading.enumerate()])
    code = []
    for threadId, stack in sys._current_frames().items():
        code.append('\n# Thread: %s(%d)' % (id2name.get(threadId,''),
            threadId))
        for filename, lineno, name, line in traceback.extract_stack(stack):
            code.append('File: '%s', line %d, in %s' % (filename,
                lineno, name))
            if line:
                code.append('  %s' % (line.strip()))
    worker.log.debug('\n'.join(code))

def worker_abort(worker):
    worker.log.info('worker received SIGABRT signal')

Replace <CLIPSTER_SERVER_DIR> with the current directory.
You should always run the server over HTTPS only so that the traffic is encrypted. To configure SSL, replace <CERTFILE> with your SSL certification file and <KEYFILE> with your SSL private key file.
If you don't have an SSL certificate yet, you can get a free one at letsencrypt.
You can also use a self signed certificate. To create one use:

openssl req -newkey rsa -x509 -sha256 -days 3650 -nodes -out clipster-ssl.crt -keyout clipster-ssl.key

Please note: When using a self signed certificate, you will need to set your client(s) to disable the SSL certification check. Traffic will still be encrypted. However, you should only set this option when you are using your own server.

Per default, the server will listen on all interfaces on port 9999. Change the bind= line to restrict access, e.g. listen only on your home network. For more options, check the documentation.
Then, make the config file executable:

chmod 755 guni_config.py

Following, get the path to your gunicorn binary:

whereis gunicorn

Next, we set up a systemd service to automatically take care of (re)starting the gunicorn server.
Create a new file (as root) /etc/systemd/system/clipster_server.service:

[Unit]
Description=Clipster Server - A Multi Platform Cloud Clipboard
After=network.target

[Service]
WorkingDirectory=<CLIPSTER_SERVER_DIR>
ExecStart=<GUNICORN_BIN> --config <GUNI_CONFIG_FILE> server.wsgi:application
ExecReload=/bin/kill -s HUP $MAINPID
ExecStop=/bin/kill -s TERM $MAINPID
Restart=always
RestartSec=1
PrivateTmp=true
User=<USER>

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target"

Replace <CLIPSTER_SERVER_DIR> with the path to the cloned repository. For <GUNICORN_BIN> set the path from just before to the gunicorn executable. The path to the config file for gunicorn we've created before goes into <GUNI_CONFIG_FILE>. Finally, replace <USER> with your username.
Now, run the following to reload the configuration, enable auto start, and start the service:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable clipster_server
sudo systemctl start clipster_server

Finally, check the status with:

sudo systemctl status clipster_server

If all went fine, you should see:

● clipster_server.service - Clipster Server - A Multi Platform Cloud Clipboard
   Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/clipster_server.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Sun 2020-08-23 20:43:15 CEST; 13h ago
 Main PID: 16672 (gunicorn)
    Tasks: 2 (limit: 4915)
   CGroup: /system.slice/clipster_server.service
           ├─16672 /opt/bin/python /opt/bin/gunicorn --config /home/mc/clipster-server/guni_clipster.py server.wsgi:application
           └─17464 /opt/bin/python /opt/bin/gunicorn --config /home/mc/clipster-server/guni_clipster.py server.wsgi:application

Aug 23 20:43:15 ace systemd[1]: Started Clipster Server - A Multi Platform Cloud Clipboard.

Now, you should be able to connect to your server with Clipster-Desktop, Clipster-Android or via browser using the front-end at URL https://domain.tld:9999.

Credits

Clipster-Server is based on cloud-clipboard and runs as a Django App. To serve the app the lightweight Gunicorn WSGI HTTP server is used. Static files are served by Whitenoise.